About 500 Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (Prime Minister Skill Centres) will be set up across the country this year even as all profit-making PSUs will scale up apprenticeships to give a major boost to skill development in the country, said an official source.

The government also decided that 50 Overseas Employment Skill Training Centres will be opened this year.

The decisions were taken at the end of the first meeting of the governing council of National Skill Development Mission held under chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here, an official source said.

“Profit making Public Sector Units (PSUs) will be mandated to scale up apprenticeships, upto 10 percent of total manpower,” the source said.

Moroever, 500 Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras, “which will provide skill training free of cost” will be opened this year, to impart training to aspiring youth, it said.

Speaking at the meeting, attended among others by Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Modi stressed on the need for proper skill mapping and identification of the future requirements for skills, which will help school-children and parents to be aware of the emerging trends in the job market.

The Prime Minister also emphasised on the importance of imbibing safety norms and soft skills as integral parts of skill development.

The meeting was also attended by Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Kalraj Mishra and Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

A number of top bureaucrats and corporate leaders, including Tata Group Chairman Cyrus P. Mistry, Flipkart founder and CEO Sachin Bansal and Team Lease Services Chairman Manish Sabharwal also participated in the governing council meeting.

Other decisions that emerged at the meeting include skill training to be scaled up to cover at least 1.5 crore people during 2016-2017, the Central Board for Skills Certification to be set up by September 2016 to infuse quality into India’s skill development ecosystem, and 500 Rozgar Utsavs will be held across Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Central Training Institutes to make skill training aspirational amongst youth.

“This year, a national level Convocation will be held for candidates who successfully complete ITI courses, to recognize their success,” an official release said.

It further said over the next one year, the capacity of ITIs to be further enhanced from 18.5 lakhs to 25 lakhs and over 5000 new ITIs will be created.